Peter Lougheed | |
|---|---|
 Peter Lougheed in 1983 | |
| 10th Premier of Alberta | |
| In office September 10, 1971 – November 1, 1985 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Lieutenant Governor | |
| Preceded by | Harry E. Strom |
| Succeeded by | Don Getty |
| Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta | |
| In office February 15, 1968 – April 27, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Maccagno |
| Succeeded by | Harry Strom |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary West | |
| In office May 23, 1967 – February 28, 1986 | |
| Preceded by | Donald S. Fleming |
| Succeeded by | Elaine McCoy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edgar Peter Lougheed July 26, 1928 Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | September 13, 2012 (aged 84) Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Spouse |
Jeanne Rogers (m. 1952) |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
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Premier of Alberta Policies and events Leader of the Progress Conservative Association of Alberta Legacy and cultural references
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Edgar Peter Lougheed PC CC AOE QC (/ˈlɔːhiːd/ LAW-heed; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Peter was the son of Edgar Donald Lougheed and Edna Alexandria Bauld and grandson of Canadian Senator Sir James Alexander Lougheed, a prominent Alberta businessman. Peter Lougheed attended the University of Alberta where he attained his Bachelor of Laws while playing football at the University of Alberta before joining the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Interprovincial Football Union for two seasons in 1949 and 1950. After graduating, he entered business and practised law in Calgary.
In 1965, he was elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, which held no seats in the legislature. He led the party back into the legislature in the 1967 provincial election as the leader of the Official Opposition, then elected as Premier with 49 of 75 seats in the 1971 election, defeating the Social Credit Party and ending the dynasty which had governed Alberta since 1935. Lougheed established a progressive conservative dynasty in the province that lasted until 2015, when the New Democratic Party won a majority government; at 43 years and 7 months it was the longest unbroken run in government for a political party in Canadian history. Lougheed led the Tories again to victory in 1975, 1979 and 1982, winning landslide majorities each time, with vote tallies of 57 to 63 percent of votes cast.
As premier, Lougheed furthered the development of the oil and gas resources, and started the Alberta Heritage Fund to ensure that the exploitation of non-renewable resources would be of long-term benefit to Alberta. He introduced the Alberta Bill of Rights. He quarrelled with Pierre Trudeau's federal Liberal government over its 1980 introduction of the National Energy Program. After hard bargaining, Lougheed and Trudeau eventually reached an agreement for energy revenue sharing in 1981. Calgary's bid to host the 1988 Winter Olympics was developed during Lougheed's terms. Alberta also experienced economic success and went through significant social reform under the Lougheed administration.
From 1996 to 2002, Lougheed served as Chancellor of Queen's University. He sat on the boards of a variety of organizations and corporations. In a 2012 edition of Policy Options, the Institute for Research on Public Policy named Lougheed the best Canadian premier of the last forty years.